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TITLE
PUB DATE
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Meredith, Vick; Williams, M. Lee

An Analysis of Secretarial" Training Needs.
Oct 82
23p.; Paper presented at the Texas Speech
Communicition Association,Convention (Houstone TX,
October.7-9,'1982).

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*Dethography; *Edutational Attitudes; *
Needs; Employee Attitudes; Postsbcond
*fectetaries; Shorthand; Typewriting,

atiOnal
ducation;

ABSTRACT
A study was conducted to determine what secretaries
perceive their training needs to be, and to determine how those
training needs might be related to various demographic variables of
the individual secretary. A questionnaire was developed that included
,the majority of skills that could be taught in a training session for
secretaries. Thirty-ix university and private industry secretaries
ranked the items as,being of "no benefit" to "highly beneficial" on a
scale of 1 to 4 and also included thpir experience, tenure,job
training, education, age, and job types. It was found that only a few
secretaries believed that training in typing or shorthand,would be
beneficial, probably because 'these skills are prerequisites for being.
hired. Training on a word processor was-viewed by most as a highly
important training peed, followed in rankings by interpersonal
communication, grammar, and business correspondence. It was aLso
found that secr6.taries did not want to interr,upt their personal tithe
to,attend trainingTrograms. Several relationhips between
demographic iiariables and perceived training_ needs -were found to bp
negatively correlated. Fordexample, tIle more education secretaries
-had, the less they.saw a need for training in most of the'basic
components. Length of experience was found to be negatively
correlated with peiceived training needs for dictaPhone machine or
.copying equipment. It was recommended that a,lateter and more diverse
sample of secretaries be used in further,studies of secretaries'
trainingneedI.-(KC)
,

I*

******,*******************************************r**********************
*
that can be made
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the
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from the original document.

best

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AN ANALYSIS OF
<NJ

SECRETARIAL TRAINING NEEDS

CM
LIJ

**

4
4

t.

Vick Meredith and M. Lee Williams

Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts
Southwest Texas State University
78666
San Marcos, Texas

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS

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NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION

CEER (ERIC)

Thes document has been reproduced as

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orignahng
Minor changes have been made to improve
reprodu Clem quahty

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mem do not necessarily represent &bowl NIE

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flat

Houston,
Presented pt the Texas Speech Communication Association Convention,
r Texas, October, 1982..

AN ANALYSIS OF

SECRETARIAL TRAINING NEEDS*

Introduction
shortSeveral recent articlea have indicated a trehd toward secretarial
,

(Balsley, 1979; Seixas, 1980),

ages in both the public and pttvaa sectors
the
In addition, of the women who are dntering the field as new secretaries,

skills (Seixas, 1980).

great majority of tbsm lack certain basicsecTarial

poSitions seems to be
The reason jor a lack of manpower to fill secretarial:
job areas that-were
that Wbmen are finding that they can excel in many other
once cdnsidered "for men only."

Many of these alternative jobs require sig-

ntficantly less-training and pay much higher salaries (Seixas, 1980).

objectives, the
As women continue to diversify in their occupational
market"can only intrend of lesser trained secretaries en ering tt e job
crease (Balsley, 1979).

Even high school and c llege curriculums seem to

he_moving alay from the traditional courses offered "secretarial types"

c

such as shorthand and filing procedures.

prior
Organizations Are beginning to feel the'need to train secretaries

to giving thsm full job responsibilities.

Not only does the new recruit need

training, but so do many of the older experienced secretaries.

With the on-

is presently taking
going advancement of technology in office eeluipment that
experienced secreplace, many organtzations are finding they must train old
equipment.
taries in order to maximize the efficienc'y of expensive new

of Labor StaThe Occupational Outlook Handbook, printeH by the Bureau

V.

tistics, describes secretaries as workers who:

Dwayne Barber, and John Ross
*The authors would like to thank Robert Kosub,
project,.
they
contnibuted
to.this
for the work and insight

16

relieve their employers of routine duties 60 that they can

work on more important matters. Although most secretades
type, take Shorthand, and deal with callers, the time spent
on these duties'varies in different types of organizations
(Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1978).
In essence, what the egperts are saying is that the title"Secretary" is a

catch-all phrase that may refer to persons employed as file clerks to-PerBecause of this diversity, it is

sons working as administrative assistants.

difficult to get very specific aboilt the A-aining needs of secretarige as a

whole.

Although there is an aburidance of literature on training needs_assessment, there is little thatikdeals directly with.secretarial needs (Mackey,
1980; Hilliard, 1977).

Tn fact, there is a scarcity of empirical data avail-

able that gives insight into the secretarial situa.tion.

Mo:,t articles in-

elude broad generalizations made only frompersonal observation or speculation.

It was the purpose of this study to piovide a More systematic understand.

ing of secretaries and,the types of training that they believe to be important.

1) determine what secretaries in gen-

Specificsallvi, this study attempted to:

ii

eral perceive their training needs to be; and 2) determine how those training needs might be related-to wirieus demographic variables of the individual secretary.

Methods
After reviewing the literature of seNiera] secretarial ttaini g assessi

ment programs (Mehallis 6. Fair, 19i,9; Rudnit;ky, 1980) and disc

sing with a

number of secreearies their job duties, a questionnaire was de el ped which

included the majority of skills that could be talight in a
for secretaries.

The skills were:

trainI

Session

typing, Oammar, shorthand/dictation,.fil-

ing proedwes/record icee'ping, business correspondence, interpersonal communicati9A,An-house communication, telephone communicationl receiving,and

screeninsitors, and equipment skills including theword peoceasor, copy.

ing equipment, dictaphone, and eelephone.

Secretaries rated their need for

1

training on each of these items.

Response alternatives were:

"Would 'be of

no benefit,", 2) "Would be slightly beneficial," 3) "Would be moderately beneficiai," or 4) 'Would 1:4 highly beneficial."

Secretaries were also,asked

to rank-order the three skills they would most benefit from if offered in a
training session. (See Appendix for questionnaire),
The.form also asked for background information of the person completing the survey$

The secretatIT's experience, tenure, specific type of Sob train.

"f

ing, education, time Iapae-since the last,training session, age, and job type

were sought.

Finally, secretaries were asked when they would be mosx Will-,

ing to attend /raining sessions.

The subjects were/36 university and private indusxry secretaries.

Twenty-eight of the secretaries were employed by Southwest Texas-State University and_tbe_remaining subjects were employed by private industry, in and
around the San Marcos area.

The subjects were visited at their job by a re-

searcher who adknistered the surve'y on an individual basis.

Instructions

for cordpleting the form were on the survey and subjects were invited to look

over the form and ask any questions they might have.

'

Depending on the sub-

ject's preference, the resenrcher waited for the questionnaixe to be completed

or returned the next day to pick up the form.

Results

The surveys were coded and entered into aNcoli4ter program for sta-tistical testing.

A frequency distribution was provided so as to better un-

dersdand the demographic& and top perceived training needs.

Secondly,.the
ei

Pearson Correlation Coefficient was comPuted to determine any relationsbips

between training needs and demographic variables.
40

Ur-

Demographics

Able 1 disp1ays.the results of the.subjects' demographic characteristics.

The majority ot respondents'indicated that theY had been employed in a secre-

tardal position.for more than two years (69.5%), with 38% having more than
eleven years experience.

Slightly over 65% reported having been at their

Almost 70% said their primary source of job

same jot for over two years.

All, were high school gradu

trait-1-14 had been on-the-job.

es with most (61%)

having s&Me college background. -Half (50%) of those surveyedshad not attended
The ages Were varied, with the highest

a training session,in over two .ye rs.

number"(30.6%) being 25-31.

More than 557, of the secretaries cldssified their

job as predominately "typing/filtig/record'keeping."

Perceived Training Needs

'The frequency results for perceived training needs are shoOn in Table :2.

Fifty percent believed they would receive no benefit from typing training.
Over 36% felt that training in grammar would be of no benefit while another
1

36% felt it would be crf a'slight benefit.

Ov'er 40% responded that shOrthand/

dietation'woulA be of no benefit to them.

Filing procedures/fecord,g6eping

tr-aining was viewed by 33.3% as being moderately helpful.

Less than 2d% be-'

lieved that training in business coriespondencb would not be helpful.

Over

36% believed that interpersunat communication would be highly beneficial

training, with another 25% feeling it would be moderately helpful.

'

Train-

'ling on the word processor was Tiewed by 63.4% at being highly needed.

Table 3 presents the results of the training.needs ranked first by the

subjects.

Twenty-five percent ranked training on the word processor as theif

most important training need.

Another 16.7% reported that interpprsonal com-

munication training would be the most advantdgeous.

Grammar was ranked by

13.9% as the most beneficial trainingat they could undergo.

*Table 4 cilipiays the combined r1ts for-the subjects three'tovanked

heeds.,

T aining on the word processor

ost often occurred as one of the top

three n eds (21.21).t Training in both i terpersonal communication and gramas tog- ranked needs, with 13% responses for each.

mar emerg

usiness cor-

respohdence w s seen by 12% dd ii!eihg one of,the three most important train.

:.

,ing heed's.

Other frequencyVtesults, as shown in Table g, indicated that Subjects

(63.9%), oh Saturdays
were unwillinelo attend traping sessions'after work
l
..
.
,..
(69.4%), 6r on a weekend trip (72.3%). Subiects were most willing to at.

.tend trainin'g during,the wor

ay'(88.9%).
-16

Perceived,Training'NeedS and Demographics

Table 6 displays the results qf the,demographic yaridbles correlated
with perceived training needs. 'tince the primSty purpose of this analysis
4

procedure was to discover relationships and not to predict them, a two-tailed test was us,ed with the probability level set at .05.

The demographic

variables correlated with each of the training needsinclucled e*perience,

and age.
tenure, educations.; time lapsed since last training session,

Train-

coding.
ing backgrounds and job types were eliminated due to problems with

education secThe results that were irrificant indicated that the more

p(.01), in
retaries had, the less they.desired training in grammar (r=-.448,
filing procedures/record keeping (r=-.378, p4C.05), business correspondence
in-house
(r=-.351, p..05), interpersonal communication (r=-.402, p.05),
(r=-3454,
communication (r=-.545, p4C.01), receiving and screening/visitors

communication
pit.01), copying equipment (r=-.340, p4C.05), a.0.telephone
6

(r=-.609, 134(.01).
.

needed op
Experience was negaiively Correlated with perceived training
the dictaphone (r=-.528, 134(.01).

Length of tenure was negatiyply,correlated

Table 1
.

Frequency Chart:

Demographic Variables
-Category

Frequency

Percentage

Experience
less than 6 months
6 months to 2 years
2 years to 5 years

0
4
-

30.6

11

6 years to 10' years

11 or more years
Totals

.G
f1.1

19.4

14

38.9
100.%

36
)

Tenure
less than 6 months
6 months to 2 years
2 years to 5 years
6 years to 10 years
11 or more yearsTotals

.2

5.6
27.7
41.7
11.1
13.9
100.%

10

.4
5

36

Job Training
,

Business/vocational school
Formal in-hou e training
On,the job t aining
Other
Did not respond
Totals

AP

Education

24

s
1

36

19.4
8.3
66.7
2.8
2.8
100.7

less than high school graduate

high school graduate
1 year of college
'2 years of college
3-4 years of college
c011ege graduate
Totals

.0

14

38.9
22.2

8
2

5
7

1.9.4

36

. 100%

Table 1 - Continued
t`

Percentage -

Frequency

iategory
Time since last training
A

less than 6 months

6 months to 2 years
more than 2 years
never
Totals

19.4
19.4
50.0
11.2
100.%

18
4

36

Age
18-24

19.4

25,7.31

11

30.6
13.9

32-38
39-44
45-50
51 or more
Totals

19.4
5.6
11.1

36

..., loch%

7,

Job Description
,1

.1

55.6
36.0
5.6
2.8

36

100.7.

20

Typing/filing/record keeping
Assistant to supervisor
Supervisor
Research/Investigation
Totals

13
2

11,

Table 2

Frequency Chart-:

Perceived Training Needs

Percentage

Frequency

Need - Rating
vb..

:Typing

no benefit
slight benefit
moderate benefit
high benefit
Totals

50.0
22.2
13.9
13.9
100.%

18
8
5
5
3'6

Grammar
14

no benefit
slight benefit
moderate benefit
high benefit
Totals

13
4

13

36

16.7
36.1
11.1
36.1
100.%

Shorthand/Dictation
15

no benefit
slight benefit
moderate benefit
high benefit
Totals,

8
8

.36

41.7
13.9
22.2
22.2
100.%

:
Filing Procedures/
Record Keeping
no benefit
slight benefit
moderate benefit
high benefit
Totals

10
11

12
3

36

27.8
30.6
33.3
8.3
100.%

Business Correspondence
no benefit
slight benefit
moderate benefit
high benefit
Totals

..,

10
9

10
36

19.4
27.8
25.0
27.8
100.%

..

i 1J
I

Table 2 - Continued

Frequency

Need 1 Rating

Percentage

Interpeisonal Communication
19.4
19.4

no benefit
slight benefit
moderate benefit
high benefit
Totals

36

25.0
36.2
100.%

9
13

25.0
36.1

13
,

In-house Communication
no benefit
slight benefit
moderate benefit
high benefit
Totals

36

13.9
25,0-100.%

11

30.6

13
8

36.1
22.2
11.1
100 %

3
9

Telephone Communicatijon
no benefit
slight benefit
moderate benefit
high benefit
Totals

4
36.

Receiving_ and Screening Visitors

9

no benefit ,'
slight benefit
moderate benefit
high benefit
Totalb

16
8
3

36

25.0
44.5
22.2
8.3
100.%

Wbrd Processor
5

no benefit
slight benefit
moderate benefit
high benefit
Totals

23
36

13.9
2.8
19.4'
63.9
100.%

Copying Equipment

47.2
22.2
22.2
8.3

36

I100.7.

17

no benefit
slight benefit
moderate benefit
high benefit
Totals

8
8

11

,.

----,

10

"

:Table, 2 - Continued

Need

Frequency

Rating

Percentage

0
Dictaphone
.

no benefit
slight benefit
moderate benefit
high benefit
Totals

55.6
13.9
13.9
16.7

20
5
5

_6
36

100.7.

Telephone
no benefit
slight benefit
moderate benefit
high benefit
Totals

58.3
22.2
13.9
5.6
100.%

21
8

1.

2.

T6

Other
Responded
Did not respond
Totals

8.4

33
36

917

100.%

.,

a
...

'

\
1

..

fTh
1

i)
4.

lr

Table 3

Frequency Chait:

Subjects' First Ranked Needs

Need -

Frequency

Typing

8.3

Grammar

13.9.

Shorthand/Dictation

8.3

Filing Procedures/RecordiKeeping

.0

Business Correspondence

8.3

Interpersonal Communication

16.7

In.-house Cdmmunication

.0

Telephone ,Communicsaon

.0

Receiving and Screening Visitors

5.6

Wotd Processor

25.0,

Copying Equipment

Dictaphone

Telephone

Other
Totals

Percentage

Ak4,

.0

11.1

36

100.%

ss

Table 4
Fre.quency, Chart :

Overall Rankings of Top Three 'Needs

Need

Frequency

t,

Percentage

9
.

TyPing

5. 0

r.

13

13. 0

10

10,0

5. 0

Business Correspondence

12

12. 0

Interper' sonal Communication

13

13. 0
,

In-house Communication

3. 0

Telephone Communication ,

Grammar
i

Short band/Dictd t ion

F iling Procedures/Record Keeping

I.

ion

.0

Receiving and Screening Visikors

Word Proces sor

4. 0

21

21. 0

i.

Copying Equipment
i

Diet aphone -

0'

Telephone

Other

2. 0

6.0

100

100 .%

Totals

14

l'

13

.Table 5
Frequency Chart :

'

Times Willing. to Attend Tqitling Sessions

'Frequency,

Time - Alternative

'Percentage

,After Work
22.2
63.9
13.9

yes

23

no
undecided
Totals

7 ..,

loo.%

On Saturdays
25.0
69.4
5.6
100.%

yes

14

no
undecided

25
2

Totals

Weekend Trip
,

yes
no

26

undecided
Totals

36

19.4
72.3
8.3
100.7

'During Work Day

yes
no
undecideil
Totals

32
1
3

36

88.9
2.8
8.3
100.%

1 4

Table 6

Correlation Matrix:
.z

Demographic Variables by Training Needs

Demographic Variables

4'

-.307

-.282

L.286

-.245

.031

-.114

-.448(b)

-.203

-.073

-.255

-.128

.056

-.327

Filing/
Records

.059

-.054

-.378(a)

-.260

.008

BusinessCorres.

.001

-.351(a)

-.375(a)

Typing

-.323

' 'Grammar

5horthand/
Dicratibn

rI

..(3)

Education

Tenure

'Experience

Time since
last train.

ft

.150

-.077

,L)

cI

Interper.

4-1

COM.
---

i-il

>

.160

,.623

-.402(a)

-.206

.034

-.151

-.545(b)

-.195

.009.

In-house

71
W

CoM.

-.092

Telephone

-.008

Com.

-.k58

,.

-.609(b)
..

Receiving/
Sc-reening

Word
Processor-.
Copying
Equipment"

-.454(b)

-.276

-.195

-.274

-.066

-.331(a)

-.3410.(a)

..107

.000+

-.133

-.167

Dictaphone

.023

,7.2341

-.027

-.039

-.072

-.038

-.528(b)

-.309

-.128

-.242

-.259

-.192

-.254

-.245

-.088

-.205

- -I

Telephone

16S,

*n=36 ,
(a)
.

R4.05,.r=.330

(b) p<.01,r=.420

15

with needed training for coPying equipment (r=-.331., p<1.05).

Finally; ,the last

significant relationship found was a negative correlation between the time

elapsed since the laSt training session and business correspondence train4
ing desired (r=-.375,

Digcussion
It was not surprising that only a few secretaries belie*ved that training in typing would be a significant benefit.
shorthand/dictation.

A similar pattern was foundA or

The most probable reason for these'findings is tha

these skills are likely to be .considered an important factor in hiring some

one as a secretary.

If one cannot perform theSe tasks, they are probably not

hired as a secretary.
\J

Training on the
tanf training need.

ord processor was viewed by most as a highly impor-

rThis finding is consistent with

the highest number one

ranked need, as well as t'he highest of the top three combined rankings.

It)

development that would

seems that secretaries viewed the'word processor as a
make their tasks easier.

Secretaries may have felt that the word processor,

freedom to acwould allow them to spend less time typing and allow them more
complish other chores.

On the other hand, secretaries may have perceived

this as t e opportunity to advance in'their careers.

They may have hoped

increase their
to become more important to their present organization, or to

))
employability with other potential employers.

Finally, observing that none

word.processor,
of the secretaries surieyed in this study had access to a
ft

they may have viewed it as important simply due to their curiosity.

follifterpersonal communication, grammar, and business correspondence
needs.
lowed the word processor in rankings of the top three training

Inter-

number
personal communication and grammar were both listed by many as their
one training need.

Perhaps these skilh; are recogniz

by secretaries as an

important part of their jobs

mal training.
.

Thi

but ones in which.they have never received for.

would seem to be especially true in situations where the

secretary was hired for her typing skills.y.it expected io perform the role
.of recept.ionist, purchasing agent, oi office manager..

Finally, it was'apparent that secretaries did not want tolinterrupt

their personal time to attend training programs.

Family obligations are

.1

7
se, although the subjects

probably thp biggeit reason for this res

in the college community may have Meaftt they had commitments to s&ool.

Since

,the subjects were all from a small towri,it would'be of interest to see.if urbanites would tespond in the same pattern.

Perhaps sdbjects from urban areas

would prove to have fewer traditional family ties and tend to )1km6re career
oriented.

Using the Pearson Correiation Coefficient, several

relationships between

demographjc variables and perceived training needs took on a clearer meaning..

Of the correlations that reached a level of significance, all of them were
negatively correlated:

Overall, education was significantiy correlated with more items than

any other.

The more education people had, the less they felt they needed

training in grammar, filing procedures/record keeping, business correspondence,

interpersonal communication, in-house communication, telephone communication,
receiving and screening visitors, and working copying equipment.
reasons may explain t-hese occurrences.

Several

Secretaries with higher levels of

education may hold higher level positions.which do noe require many of these
more menial tasks such as filing nnd shorthand.

Even though a more educated

secretary_might hold a higher level position, she might perceive many of the
skills as more basic to many of the other abilities she haLt gained through
her education.

18

As for the more creative communicative type skills such as business cor40,

respondence, interpersonal communication, and even to some degree in-house

and telephone communication, the higher educated person probably has a greater
verbal propensity than those with lesser degrees of education.

This is not

to imply thaeeducation necessarily creates superior communicative,abilities,

but that the person who excels, or at least has the potential to excel academically, will quite probably have greater verbal competence than will.those who
A

are unable to gain educaticin.

Length of experience was found to-teciegatively correlatel with per%

ceived training needed on the dictaphone machine.

found between tenure an51(copying equipment.

A similar relationship was

These erns are probAbly

sidered tfasic to secretaiial work, and therefore, the more experienced sedreJ

tary either has learned to use the equipment thoroughly

to utilize them in oraer to accomplish her tasks.

or.no longer needs

A possible explanation for

copying equipment being associated with tenure but not experience might be
that a person who 'hes worked with an organization for a number of years is

)(

more familiar with that company's.equipment than a newer employee iegardless

of experience.

Limitations of Present Study and Conclusions

Obviously, any conclusions resulting from this study.should be approached with caution.

Although this study makes some headway toward under-

standing secretarial training needs, several limitations are apparent.

A larger sample of secretaries needed to be interviewed, and any repliA

cation of the study should considex increasing the number of subjects.

Also, the population of subjects was somewhavrestricted in that many of them

came from an academic community.

Several extraneous variables could have ef-

fected the overall findings, such as the type of tasks, educational backgrqund
and even the age group that is drawn to thisstype of environment.
1 9

1 8

It is difficult to

Aniher limitation was the survey instrument itself.

tell whether it really discriminated on such items as job, type or specific

training background.

Also the item on "tiniersWe last tiaining session"

r-

.prqably did not accomplish what it was intended to.

IC.was hoped that this'

item would indicate innovative organizations.or,aggressive indivi

,

ing improvement.

job levels, an

als seek^

Perhaps a futtve survey.could clearly ciistiauish between

f training bac grounds.

lso between various types

Further,
11-

ovative agencies and self-motivated peo-

some method of betEer identifying

ple might be developed.

i>

'AlCh-Tiugh the present .study presents findings with limited generalizabil,

ity,.these resultjare a starting point for future inquiry.

It appeaes that

businesses have a great deal to gain from irestigating training needs.

If'

organLations can more accurately assess their secretariei training needs,

then money spent in training programs will yield a greater return upon investment.

Secondly, if certain
demographic variables are found to be cor,

related with certain desirable traits in secretaries, than organizations may

Jr.

tmplement a more systematic means of recruiting employees.

Not only could

this help cut cast by reducing turnover, but it could enable personner managers to know what kind of skill deficiencies or over-qualifications to ex,

pect from an applicant.

In this manner, thetgrganization will be maximizing

the goodnes of fit between the sec etary and her tasks.

04'

19.

Appendix
Survey Questionnaiie

This research project seeks to determine perceived training needs of gecretarThe analysis will be based.on fhe
les across a broad spectrum ol organizations.
It will not be necessary to identify
collective responses of individuals.
please to not identAfy
any individuals who fill out this survey, therefore,
yourself by name anywhere on this survey.
If the results
dential.
The results of this project will be treated as co
organization and
otherwise
reported,,
the
name
of
this
were-to be published, or
its type of service would be omdtted.
/

honest in order to ensure an

Ih'filling out this survey, please be frank an

Accurate analysis of the Situation.

THANK YOU
1.

PART I
Please answer the following questions by placing a mark by the answer that most
appropriately describes you.

1.

Lengtkof experience as 'a secretary.

2.

Length of experience with this organization.

less than 6 months
6 months to 2 yaaT-s-___,,_
2 years to 5 years
6 years to 10 years
11 or more years

less than 6 months

65months to two year

2 years to 5 years
6 years to 10 years
11 or more years

/0

3.

3.

Specific job training.

Educational background.'

Less,than high school graduate

High school graduate
1 year of college
2 years of college
3-4 years of college
College graduate

Business or trade school

Formalized training in company
On the job training
Other

5.

How long has it been-since.ydu

attended a training session
directly related to your joli.

6.

Your age.

Which best descibes your

job duties?

18-24

25-31
Less than 6 months
6 months to 2 years
Mdre than 2 years
Never

7.

32-38
39-44
45-50
51+

k.

Typing/filing/record keepin
Assistant to supervisor
Supervisor
Research/Investigation

20
PAI1T II

If a training pragram was offered, how would each of the following areas benefit you?
'Please respond by placing a mark in the box that most accurately describes your feelings.

Would be

Job Related
Areas or Skillq

of no
benefit

Typing

Would be

Would be
moderately
beneficial

Would bq
slightly
benericial

higFy
beneficial

Grammar

Shorthand/
Dictation

Filing Procedures/
Record Keeping

Business Correspondence
(authoring letters)

4
..

Interpersonal Communication Skills

In-house Communication
,
.

Telephone Communication
Receiving and Screening
Visitors
Equipment Skills
Use of:,
,

Word Processor
.

Copying Equipment
Dictaphohe

Telephone
Other

Including the topics listed in gart II, and any ether job related areas you ean think
of, please rank-order the three you feel you would most benefit from.
rt

3.

2.

Would you consider attending training sessions:

YES

After work during the week

On Saturdays

On a. Weekend Trip
..

...

NO

UNDECIDED

2 1

geferences

Balsley, I. W.

View from the top.

Management World, 1979, 8, 1-18,

411,

Hachey, M. A check list for in-house secretarial training.

Journal, 1980; 59, 59-60.

Ten common mistakes of secretarial training.

Hilliads, V. J.
ael Journal, 1977,- 56, 410-413.

Personnel

Person-

Mehallis, M. V., & Fair, K. Occupational analysis: A basis for curriand

culum development and evaluation. .PubliaheA by the Employment
Training Adminiatration, Washington, D. C:, 1979.

Published by the Bureau of Labor StatisOccupational Outlook Handbook.

tics, Washington, 1978, (Bulletin #1955-5).
Survey.' Published by the Los
Rddnitsky, A. Los Aflee5s County Office
Ankeles City Colle e, 1980, (Research #80-9).

The case of the disappearing secretary.

Seixas, S.
84-87.

honey, 19/80, 10,

SS

2 :3